I suspect the guy who will benefit most with Hernandez out of the picture is Julian Edelman. Athletically both navigate the field in a similar fashion being better athletes in a phone booth than over long distances. They've used Edelman in the past for the same kind of route and running combinations that they used Hernandez with, so I have to think he would be the guy to take on the lion's share of the role. Edelman is a solid blocker, and can probably operate in every way that Hernandez did except in-line which Hoomanawanui can do.

Edelman was tested out 3 seasons ago as the heir apparent to Kevin Faulk as the 3rd down RB, and actually looked pretty good in the preseason. When Faulk got hurt Woodhead took that role and ran with it, but it wouldn't shock me to see Edelman play a bigger role out of the backfield next season. I've always thought Edelman had a productive role to play in an NFL offense, but I think ill timed injuries and better players have held him out.

I suspect the guy who will benefit most with Hernandez out of the picture is Julian Edelman.

Someone went from roster bubble to more securely on the roster because of Hernandez's release. All of the sudden, a guy who was going to be your move TE is now gone and you will have to replace some of his responsibilities, likely with another TE. That guy was probably on the roster bubble, but now is a potential contributor.

That makes guys who may have been competing for those last few spots now have one less person competing and it makes them more likely to carry a 3rd QB...

I understand it being considered "classy." It's also a strategic and spot-on PR move to try to distance the Patriots organization from Aaron Hernandez. They want his jersey off the streets.

I don't care how you classify it, it's still absolutely the right move. It makes em shudder how we would have handled this if we had someone as talented as Hernandez, but I can guarantee you that it wouldn't have gone down like this.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Wright

I guarantee that if someone picks Cam Newton in the Top 5 they will regret it.

I don't care how you classify it, it's still absolutely the right move. It makes em shudder how we would have handled this if we had someone as talented as Hernandez, but I can guarantee you that it wouldn't have gone down like this.

I would have hated to see how many teams would try to get work release for Hernandez if he was on their teams lol

Yeah, I also think that there's some revisionist history regarding Hernandez and his draft stock. I mean, all of the talk was about Gresham and Gronk being the two best TEs that year. Gresham was the 21st pick and Gronk fell to the 42nd because of injury concerns. Those were the only TEs who went in the first two rounds, and I doubt Hernandez would have changed that even if he had been a choir boy.

At the time nobody was overly surprised, from a talent standpoint, that Ed Dickson and Jimmy Graham went ahead of Hernandez. That leaves us with Tony Moeaki as the only head-scratcher.

I think so, too. I remember thinking he was an interesting prospect skill-wise, but I also remember thinking that he was very obviously suited best as an H-back type player, and with a lack of height no one was expecting him to be a no. 1 option in the passing game. I don't recall thinking he "fell" in the draft at all. Everyone was calling him a 3-4th round prospect from a talent perspective, with the caveat that "some teams" might scratch him from their board for character concerns. The knocks on him were his relative lack of size, unimpressive blocking and lack of blazing speed. Why should he have been a 1st or second round prospect? He landed in the ideal situation with a creative coach and a true prototypical tight end in Gronkowksi, while at the same time not having a true no. 1 wide receiver on the team, so the stars were aligned for him to post some good numbers; all he was asked to do was what he was best at. There's a number of players in the league who could've matched his production in the same role. I don't even consider Tony Moeaki a head-scratcher, and his resume would hold up a lot better if he hadn't had injury problems.

Did I just miss it or has Urban Meyer not been asked about (or agreed to talk about) Hernandez at Florida?

I just have to wonder what those coaches think about Hernandez's alleged gang ties dating to Connecticut (where he grew up - meaning pre-Florida). It seems like a reasonable question to ask, since Hernandez admittedly failed numerous drug tests and Florida and was barely disciplined.

[I'm not blaming Meyer or his coaches at Florida, but I am curious as to what he would say about the matter]

Me too.
Classy.
They wouldn't have done it if there were THAT MANY of his jerseys out there.... I bet there are 1/10th at best of his vs Gronk.

Also, I'd like to have seen the Packers have done that when Benedict went Purple.
But there were waaaay too many of them out there to be cashed in.

But they, if they were smart, should have offered like $50 off a new Packers jersey via their official pro shop. There's still $100 built in profit to those ripoff prices.

JMike, that makes zero sense. Why are you trying to compare a guy being accused of at least one murder to a player signing with a new team? We understand you have your grudges and like to complain about injuries but it goes too extreme at times.